GDC Austin Talk: Finding the Right Rewards to Sustain Player Engagement (Sept. 2009)

Presented by Scott Rigby at the Game Developers Conference in Austin, TX

Rewards are a cornerstone of design and a critical element of a game’s ability to sustain relationships with players. This presentation covers in-depth motivational research on reward mechanisms in games, specifically highlighting the different kinds of motivations (extrinsic and intrinsic) that different strategies can support. Recommendations are made for focusing on the intrinisic motivation that longitudinal data shows is more strongly related with customer value, enthusiasm, and long-term engagement.